Coronado Bible Church

It happened again … fresh insight from a familiar passage of God’s Word. Psalm 119 was written on as an acrostic poem in praise of God’s law. In the Hebrew, each section has eight lines all beginning with the same letter. There is one section for each of the twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. With a grand total of 176 lines (or verses), Psalm 119 is not only the longest Psalm, but the longest chapter in the Bible.

The authors of my Bible reading plan decided to dole out Psalm 119 … one section a day. So this one psalm took 22 days to read. Psalm 119 has always been challenging to me. Not just because of the length, but because of the professed piety of the author. He uses the personal pronoun “I” incessantly. One proclamation after another about what he has done or plans to do in his pursuit of God and God’s Word. Here’s a sampling from just three verses …

• I have chosen the way of truth
• I have set my heart on your laws
• I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord
• I run in the path of your commands

Now, there are plenty of pleas for God’s assistance, but they seem overwhelmed by 115 “I” statements like the ones above. So part of me has found it difficult not to dismiss the author’s statements as pharisaical and arrogant. This time, maybe because my pace was slower I saw an “I” that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s the very last verse … Psalm 119:176, I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.

• The logos for: Monster Energy Drink, Taco Bell and Google Chrome
• The trademark scrolly writing of the name “Walt Disney”
• The hand gestures of President Donald Trump
• The ancient Christian symbol for the Trinity
• Even a pan of cinnamon rolls (That should help you with your diet).

I’m not making this stuff up, but someone is. People have also been multiplying theories for who the number might identify as the Antichrist. One of the strongest candidates ever put forward was Ronald Wilson Regan. It was so obvious! Each of his names had six letters and he and Nancy did live at 666 St. Cloud Road, Bel Air, Los Angeles. U.S. Presidents have always been popular targets. As I mentioned, Donald Trump is currently being identified as the Antichrist … but then so was Barak Obama. I don’t want to leave out my Canadian friends, so I think you should be warned that Justin Trudeau has been identified as a likely candidate … look it up! On second thought, don’t bother.

Revelation 13:18 describes the “Mark of the Beast” as follows; This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

This is David … the shepherd boy … standing on the corner of my desk. I found him in a bin of church stuff. It all makes sense now; how an adolescent could have killed a lion, a bear and then a trained Philistine warrior over nine feet tall. If the toymakers are right, David was no regular prepubescent. The testosterone kicked in way early for this boy. And look at that stone! I read in 1 Samuel 17 how David chose “five smooth stones” that fit in his shepherd’s pouch, but who am I to argue with a Chinese toy manufacturer. Slinging cannon balls like that is probably how David defeated Hannibal’s army of Elephants when it crossed the Alps into Israel. No … that didn’t happen either, but if you’re not going to stick to the text of Scripture, anything goes.

I looked up the toymaker online and discovered they use the same mold for Joshua, Goliath and Lachmi (that’s Goliath’s brother). I know you don’t remember Lachmi, but he’s in there (1 Chronicles 20:5). They probably picked this obscure character because there are only so many body builders mentioned in the Bible. The company also makes Samson. His figurine comes with removable hair (sad, but I’m not joking). I have a theory about Samson. I think he was about as imposing as Kenny G … a little thin guy with a wild mop of hair. If he had looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger, they wouldn’t have kept asking about the source of his strength. And if he looked like he could push down a temple, they probably wouldn’t have put him between the pillars. Samson’s story is not a story about a man bound with muscle, it’s the story of a man filled with God’s Spirit.

“Research done in North-Central India, where the sun only becomes visible after it has risen higher than surrounding mountains, documents the onset of crowing approximately two to three hours before sunrise with initial intervals of about 30 minutes that decrease to about seven minutes at the time of sunrise—even though the sun is not actually visible at the moment of sunrise.”

Do you remember Cornelius the Rooster? He was the mascot for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. In my childhood commercials, the sun didn’t come up until Cornelius crowed. Television was my only exposure to Roosters and I thought they only crowed right at sunrise. I was totally confused when I moved to Panama and heard them crowing 24/7. While Panama roosters don’t seem to have much sense of time, according to researchers, other parts of the world have pretentiously punctual poultry. In fact, a new study (done by Nagoya University in Japan) “shows that roosters don’t need the light of a new day to know when it’s dawn—rather, their internal clocks alert them to the time.”

Roosters are reliable enough that prior to our chronographically fixated age, people told time by them. The Greek word alektorophōnía, literally means “roosters voice” but is sometimes translated “third watch.” Although the Greeks and Romans had developed other ways of marking time throughout the night, the three hours prior to sunrise was still called “cockscrow.” Mark 13:35 uses the word in Jesus’ parable counseling vigilance in watching for His return,

“Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn.”

Interestingly, Jesus mentions only the watches of the night … the times when it is most difficult to be alert and aware. This was exactly His point. Jesus continues, “If (the master) comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!”  The specific servant mentioned in Jesus’ parable was the door keeper. While others slept, he stayed alert through the dark watches of the night, ready to welcome his master home. Many considered the final watch, just before the breaking of dawn, the most difficult time to stay awake. The night has been long, the Master tarries … but He is coming. Wake up!

Sources: Scientific American article, “What time does the cock crow?” by Krystal D’Costa, November 30, 2011; National Geographic article, “How a Rooster Knows to Crow at Dawn” by Jane J. Lee, March 19, 2013.